Consumers interested in acquiring services must first identify a service provider who is capable of providing the required services. At present, this usually means perusing a telephone directory, which can become frustrating and time-consuming if the service providers telephoned are not immediately available. In addition, a simple telephone call does not enable the service provider to charge a fee according to the time spent with his/her customers.
Systems now exist that enable providers of services to charge fees for the time spent delivering the service. 1-900 phone numbers will charge the seeker of services according to the time spent receiving the service and will transfer this payment, or a portion of it, to the provider. Each 1-900 number, however, has a very narrow scope—“Hear your Horoscope,” for instance. If a seeker would like to hear an entirely different service—“Your Local Weather,” for instance—he/she would have to dial a completely different 1-900 number. Similarly, each 1-900 number is quite rigid in the price, quality, and specificity of its service.
However, current systems (service provider systems) now exist that enable seekers to locate service providers according to a wide range of price, quality and specificity of service (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/414,710 and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/702,217). Such systems also make it possible for the service provider and buyer to be connected and communicate in real time. Such systems, provide service seekers the capability to select service providers via the Internet, assuming the service seeker owns or has access to the necessary computer hardware to browse the internet. In addition, a service seeker can be matched to a wide array of service providers with specific skills using only a simple audio-transmission medium such as the telephone.
The systems described above, such as for example, the service provider systems, are designed to generate capital for both the owners of the systems, as well as the service providers, which provider their services via the systems. As such, the more requests and live conversations the service provider engages in, the more money the service providers will generate. Accordingly, the more money generated by the service providers, the more money that will be generated for the service provider system. As such, the system described above not only aspire to attract as many customers as possible, but where possible, to have as many repeat customers as possible.
Accordingly, as systems such as the service provider system described above begin to generate additional repeat business, certain ones of the various service providers available from such systems may become popular. As such, users of the systems will eventually determine certain service providers, which are the favorites. As a result, certain service providers of the system will have increased popularity as compared to other service providers available from the system. Therefore, the availability of these popular service providers may be quite diminished due to their increased demand. In addition, such service providers cannot always be available. Their windows of availability may be small when compared to those of the users that are requesting their services. In addition, due to either illness, unforeseen circumstances or the like, the service providers may be unavailable during their indicated times of availability.
Consequently, the service provider systems, as described above, can generate a benefit from some sort of mechanism for enabling users to schedule receipt of service from such service providers. Such a scheduling system would enable more efficient allocation of the service provider's times, as well as provide improved efficiency to users in accessing their desired service providers. In addition, a service provider could gauge interest with reference to the service provider based on the amount of scheduling requests received. Therefore, there remains a need to overcome one or more of the limitations in the above-described existing.